5 Traits That Make For An Employee That Will Go Beyond Basic Requirements

When you’re hiring your next employee, you want to look for someone who’s not just going to do what’s expected. You an employee that will go beyond basic requirements reflecting well on your establishment and the people in it. In our last post, we talked about how to empower your employees in difficult situations, but how do you find the right traits in an employee in the first place?

Look for these 5 traits and you’ll be on your way to finding someone who will go beyond the basic to make your restaurant exceptional.

Ambition

Everyone knows it’s no fun working with or managing an employee who’s not interested in where their career goes. But until you’ve worked with someone with true ambition and drive, you may not understand the difference it can make to your business.

Employees with ambition go above and beyond the call of duty every day, pushing their limits and making the entire team better. When you’re interviewing potential new employees, ask them questions about how they handle situations where there’s no clear leader. If they display an answer that shows they will step up and lead a team, you’ll know whether you have an ambitious employee on your hands.

Upbeat Attitude

It’s easy to underestimate the effect that a positive attitude can have on your staff and your organization. If you’ve ever worked with someone who has a negative attitude, you already know how much of a drag a bad attitude can be on your team.

When you’re looking to add a new member to your team, make sure you’re keeping an eye on their overall outlook and attitude. Listen carefully to their tone – especially as they speak about former employers or frustrating situations in their past jobs. Make sure you ask specifics about how they dealt with other employees when they were frustrated, and you’ll get a more clear picture of whether they’re able to remain upbeat in the face of tough situations.

Confidence

When spending time in your restaurant, there’s nothing that will put your guests more at ease than having a confident and competent staff serving them (tweet this) . After all, they’re spending their hard-earned money to enjoy a night out on the town. If they’re going to enjoy their time, your staff will need to put them at ease by confidently taking care of their every desire.

As you meet potential employees, you’ll likely find it easy to measure their confidence in simple conversation. But if you’re left wondering how much they can take on themselves, try asking a few questions about projects they’ve completed on their own in past jobs. Listening to their description of past projects will help you understand how comfortable they are

Passion

Even when your next employee has all of the traits listed above, it can feel like there’s something missing. The truth is that there’s no substitute for a truly passionate employee. Someone that cares about their customers, their fellow employees, and the success of the restaurant will be an invaluable addition to your team every day of the week.

To make sure you find someone that has the passion to make a difference at your restaurant, you might try introducing them to others on your staff during their interview process. Do they act genuine and sincere in their conversations? In addition, you can ask about how their past roles impacted the overall success of the restaurant – hearing them talk about their specific role in helping the team succeed will paint a clear picture of their overall passion for the task at hand.

Empathy

Sometimes the trait that’s most beneficial – above all else – is empathy. Your employees will deal with so many people from different backgrounds each day, and everyone from your customers to your staff will benefit from interacting with someone who understands how people feel, and can act accordingly.

When you’re interviewing prospective employees, ask them specifically about how they interacted with other employees. Listen carefully to the way they talk about these experiences – not just their own experience, but how their role made others feel, and how it affected the work. This will help you understand how empathetic your future employees might be.

There are many other traits that make for employees that will go beyond basic requirements and make your business amazing. What are the traits that you look for in new employees? Tell us in the comments.

JD Spinoza

JD enjoys teaching people how to use ZoomShift to save time spent on scheduling. He’s curious, likes learning new things everyday and playing the guitar (although it’s a work in progress).